Three persons were
killed instantly and another is in St. Joseph’s Hospital,
Marshfield, the result of a train and automobile accident which
occurred at the main street crossing in Spencer early Saturday
morning.

The accident
happened at 1:35 a.m. when No. 24, a freight train, on the
Minneapolis to Chicago run, was hit by the panel truck of Bruno
Chekitis, Greenwood, route 1. Mr. Chekitis, who was driving the
car, is in the hospital suffering from bruises to the chest, left
hip and right shoulder and minor lacerations.

The dead are:
Harold A. Darkow, 23, Athens, who received a broken neck, a
fractured right knee, and cuts and bruises.

Mrs. Mildred
Domine, 30, also of Loyal, route 2, who suffered a broken neck and
a fractured left leg.

All of the victims
were riding in the front seat of the vehicle.

The tragedy
occurred when Chekitis, driving west on Highway 98, collided with
the south bound freight. The light truck was carried 52 feet from
the point of impact. All of the victims remained in the
vehicle.

The right front of
the demolished car collided with the left front of the cow catcher
of the locomotive. The engine was not damaged.

John
Hildensperger, acting Marathon County coroner, quoted Chekitis as
saying that the panel truck was moving about 15 miles per hour when
it reached the crossing.

Hildensperger said
an inquest would be held early this week.

Chekitis, a
veteran receiving on the job training as a mechanic at the Otto
Stock garage at Loyal, told a reporter Saturday morning that he had
been with Darkow since early evening and that they had met the
women at Loyal about 1 ½ hours before the tragedy.

The four later
drove to Spencer *** Note: The remainder of this article was missing.